Marcello Jori was born on 12 December 1951 in Merano, South Tyrol. He lives and works in Bologna. After completing his studies in DAMS (Drama, Art and Music Studies, Bologna) in 1977, he began a career as an artist. His work were soon exhibited in national and foreign galleries and museums.

In the mid-seventies, Jori took his first tentative steps in certain conceptual streams, from which he soon moved away and indeed openly went against their colder and most austere aspects, in an attempt to infuse art with a new lease of life. This he did with a series of photographic works, in which he reinterprets a number of classical masterpieces in a modern key. In this way, art is brought back to a human dimension; the artist "gives body" to the paintings, and takes possession of them so as to transform them into something true.

In 1979, Jori painted himself on top of a ladder painting the fall of the angel, in contact with the heavens, which marked a turning point in his artistic career. This painting displays a new expressive energy that featured in his works over the entire following decade. It was during this phase that painting became central to his creative evolution.